Stray Dogs in Athens

Stray dogs are a problem in Athens. Not because
they will attack you or chase you through the city streets. It is
mostly an image problem. You have this big modern city and wandering
around, lounging in the shade, solo and in packs, are dogs. Some
are
pets, some are former pets and some have never been pets at all.

The downtown dogs are pretty well
behaved. Many are streetwise,
literally. My mother was curious as to how they could cross some
of the big Athens avenues so she watched them. She discovered that
the dogs would go to the pedestrian crossings and stand there. No
they did not know that the little green man meant it was OK for
them to cross. They would wait until some humans came and then cross
with them. Plaka and downtown dogs are very good natured.
They are around people all the time and have few needs, all of which are
available in the neighborhood: food, water and shade.

Some of the dogs have hob-knobbed with the
rich and famous. Bill Neil, author of Southern Cooking, told
me of a night on the Acropolis when he and REM's Michael Stipe snuck
in and befriended the strays that live on and around the ancient
rock. I have seen stray Plaka dogs grooving to the Chieftans at
the dirty corner in front of the monument to Lysacratus. Those of you
who have seen the movie FOR THE LOVE OF BENJI may recall that when
Benji gets lost in downtown Athens he is befriended by one of the
Plaka dogs who took his siestas in the ancient agora. In fact it
was the Plaka dog that protected Benji when the mean Dobermans that
belonged to the bad guys came searching for him to find the micro-chip
implanted in his fur, or collar (I forget which).

A few years ago Kiki Zikou at Dolphin Hellas
told me I needed to write an article about the dogs in the old airport.
The next time I left Greece, sure enough there were dogs wandering
around the terminal. With the new airport so far out of town it
is unlikely that you will see any dogs and I am off the hook for
the article I never got around to writing. Even so you have to wonder
about a country that had dogs wandering around the airport. Maybe
they were undercover police dogs. Maybe they belonged to an airport
employee who could not leave them home in the apartment because
they barked and bothered the neighbors so they just came to work
with him. Most likely they were like any other stray dogs
in Athens. They are such a part of the landscape that you don't
even notice them.

I remember coming home early one morning from
the Plaka to my neighborhood in Agia Paraskevis in 1972. As I was
walking up the hill I saw a pack of about twenty dogs coming towards
me. This made me a little nervous. Who knew whether these were
pets, or strays looking for a lone human to rip to shreds and devour
without a trace. How many people, whose disappearance off the
face of the earth had fueled stories of alien abductions, were merely
eaten by packs of wild urban and suburban dogs? As these
thoughts went through my head I realized that leading the gang of
dogs was Reinhart, our family dog who lived in a suitcase on our
back porch! He came up and greeted me with a sniff and a wag of
his tail and then continued on to do whatever it is that packs of
dogs do at four in the morning. (I was actually proud that our dog
was the leader of the pack).

I was bit once by a stray dog. It
was in Exarchia and for some reason one of the dogs that hung out
in the square decided he did not like me. He followed me, barking
madly and I tried to ignore him but then he nipped my heal. I turned
around and yelled at him and he ran away terrified. But that was
three years ago and I have not been back to Exarchia since. Maybe
the dog is gone. Maybe he was just having a bad day and didn't like
the way I looked at him. Who knows? But that experience has kept
me away from the neighborhood for the last three years and I can
understand why the large numbers of dogs might make travelers uncomfortable.

So why does Athens have such a big dog problem?
Greek-American Tom Mazarakis explained on his website:

I have been living in Greece for the last 33 years and am well
acquainted with the recent history of the dog situation in Athens and the
rest of Greece. As in most civilized countries, in Greece too, every
municipality had a "dog pound" and a "dog catcher". And, as in most cities
throughout the world, many domesticated dogs in Greece would one way or
another gain their "freedom" from their owners. Either they would run away
on their own, or they would be "let go" by irresponsible owners. Whatever
the case may have been, these stray dogs often would breed and have puppies
and multiply accordingly. The dog catchers in Greece used to step in and
round up as many strays as they could. The strays were held in the local
municipal dog pounds for a period of no more than 90 days, and if no one
claimed the dogs, they were typically then put to sleep. This system
kept the stray dog population down to a manageable level up until about 10
years ago. At about that time, a local animal rights activist group found
out about a particular dog pound that kept their dogs in miserable and
inhumane conditions. They visited the pound and filmed the scene. Then they
took their evidence and presented it to the local District Attorney who in
turn issued a warrant for the responsible mayor's arrest. That mayor was
charged with the crime of "maltreatment of animals" which is a very serious
offense in Greek law. He was convicted and sentenced to several months in
prison along with a stiff monetary fine. As a result, almost every
municipality in Greece dissolved their dog pounds and fired their dog
catchers. As you can understand, this paved the way for the stray dogs to
multiply without restriction, and today they have become a serious problem.
Many people, and especially children, have been attacked and mauled by gangs
of wild dogs. But, no one takes responsibility. The local Humane Society
has been making every effort it can to feed and take care of as many stray
dogs as they can handle, but their numbers keep growing. They try to neuter
as many of the dogs as they can, but they just can't seem to put even a
small dent into the problem.

You also have to look at the Greek relationship
with animals to understand the problem. The concept of animals as
pets is relatively new. The majority of Athenians come from rural
roots and people had animals for a purpose. A donkey was for carrying
things. A cat was to kill rats. A dog was to tend sheep, hunt or
keep wolves and predators away. When I moved to Athens in the
sixties, dogs as pets were as common as chinchillas are now. (Our
landlady had a French poodle. But she spoke French too.) Normal
people did not have dogs. In the seventies dogs suddenly
became fashionable, especially collies, and every one was named
'Lassie'. But only a small percentage of people realized that having
a dog was not as easy as owning a plant and when they found out,
they did what people in the USA used to do (and some still do).
They took the dogs for a ride. When they were far enough to be sure
that the dog would not find its way back home they opened the car
door and 'set him free'. Some people with cats took them to the
National Gardens and on warm sunny days you would see colonies of
them lounging on the grass near the Parliament building. I myself
was guilty of taking several pets 'to the park' as we used to say.
I was leaving Greece for the winter and had three ducks that I knew
would not survive in the city streets. The pond seemed like the
best place for them. Now there is a duck population that has grown
out of control though for some reason it has not received the attention
that the dogs have.

This year the municipality knew they had to
act on the dog problem because of the upcoming Olympics, especially
after some of the dogs interfered with some of the Olympic trials
and even competed in the Marathon.
The municipal plan was simple. They would round up the dogs and take them
to a farm or kennel or somewhere they could stay outside the city.
Then when the Olympics were over they would bring them back to where
they found them and set them free again! Obviously this solves the
image problem of Athens for the Olympics, at least concerning the
dogs, but then after the Olympics you are back at square one with
a city full of strays who just got a free holiday in the country.

Then one day in the fall of 2003 I made a discovery. We had gone to
dinner in Fokoinos Negri at a psistaria and had a meal of steaks
and lambchops and had lots of meaty leftovers. We put them
in a bag with the intention of feeding one of the dogs that hang
out in front of the apartment buildings on the large pedestrian
street that the area is named for. We did not find any dogs. In
fact we walked all the way to the Attalos Hotel on Athinas street several
kilometers away
and still did not see any dogs. I ended up leaving the bones in the
bushes in front of the municipal police station in the hopes that
some dog might show up and smell it. It was not until I came back
to the USA that I heard on NPR that some 3000 dogs had been poisoned.
Some people blamed the municipality and others blamed the Athens
Olympic Committee. Why adopt 3000 dogs and have to feed them for
a year when you can just feed them poison once and be done with
it? I mean if you are looking for a purely economical solution
this would be the way to go. But you better have a good cover story
because every dog lover and animal rights activist is going to
come after you with a vengeance and Athens won't be known as 'the
city with the stray dog problem', but as 'the city with a government
so heartless that they would murder 3000 stray dogs to avoid the
cost and responsibility of taking care of them'. Do I think the
municipality of Athens murdered these dogs? It is hard to believe.
But it is equally difficult to believe that a few neighbors who
were tired of seeing so many stray dogs decided to take matters
into their own hands and bought enough meat and poison to kill 3000
of them. Nearly every neighborhood has some nutcase who poisons cats and
dogs but to kill 3000, these people would have to have an organization
and a union.

Chances are we will never find out what happened
to these dogs. The fact is that despite the humorous way I am presenting
this there is a problem with the Greek attitude towards animals
which won't be fixed overnight. For whatever historical reason there are still people that have either a fanatical
dislike or fear of animals, or they have a compulsion to kill and
animals are easy victims. The poisoning of strays has been going
as long as I have been coming to Greece and it
won't go away easily. Like stopping people from thoughtlessly
littering it will take a program of education and probably
serious punishment when offenders are caught. It will also take
a comittment by the authorities to catch offenders rather
than ignore them or see them as some kind of 'short term cure' to
an unpleasant problem of which there are no easy solutions.

The first question you may have as a
visitor is 'are you safe from being mauled by packs
of wild dogs in Athens?' The answer is yes. No tourist
has been attacked yet besides me and I am not a tourist and I was
not really attacked. The second question is '
is there anything you can do to solve the problem of strays in Athens
and in Greece?' The answer to this is also yes. You can adopt one
and bring it home with you! Sound far-fetched? You might be surprised
at how many people have fallen in love with a dog or cat in Greece
and taken them home. You can say what you want about them being
an eyesore or a nuisance but for some reason these animals have
a lot of character and it is not such an unlikely scenario that
one might steal your heart. It happens:

hi matt! thanks
for being open to posting this animal issue on your web-site.....if the message
is out there....little by little, people might start to respond and get involved!

1) bring the cat/dog to the local vet for vaccinations/it is necessary to get a pet passport from the vet, as well, stating all of the vaccinations that were given.

2) call your airline to reserve space on the plane or cargo space. all airlines have different guidelines for space travel
for pets/regarding size and weight, as well. the pet must be small to travel
on board/puppy or cat. a larger dog might have to travel in cargo. the vet can give you a sleeping pill to give to your pet during the flight.

3) you will need to purchase a ticket from the airline, for your pet/regardless, if it is on board or cargo.

4) call your embassy, just to make sure you have covered all of the bases. the u.s. told us that going through customs will not be any
problem....and it wasn't! there you have it! knowing that we saved this
homeless, starving little puppy from an unbelievably cold, brutal winter (i
don't think he would have had a chance) on the island of myconos.....makes me
feel so grateful that we all had the means and the motivation to make a
difference in one little animals life. myco is so loving and grateful for his
new-found home and life-style. embarking on this experience, i feel was a great accomplishment!

matt, i have been to myconos three times, now....it gets harder and harder for me to visit there because of all of the homeless,
starving, neglected animals.....all three trips i ended up concentrating on
feeding all of the animals....one by one....well, this trip we finally made a
difference! stephanie

At about the same time as Stepanie was adopting
her new pet, the municipality and Athens 2004 unveiled their plans
too:

GREECE: October 6, 2003
ATHENS - Athens, host of the 2004 Olympics, launched a plan last week to
sterilize more than 10,000 stray dogs ahead of the Games in measures condemned by
animal rights groups as ill thought-out and insufficient.
The city said the 1.8 million euro ($2.11 million) project, to be officially
unveiled on the weekend, will halt the growth of a huge population of stray
dogs roaming the streets of the capital before the start of the Olympics.
"The sight of thousands of stray animals living without care in the city
streets constitutes an insult to us as civilized people," Athens Mayor Dora
Bakoyanni, who plans to give 20 strays up for adoption on the weekend, said in a
statement.
The project, co-funded by the city and the government, aims to collect,
sterilize and tag the dogs, before releasing them again. Two mobile vet units will
monitor their health.
But animal rights groups say the plan does not cover the needs of strays.
"This cannot be just a one-day event with some promises and cute puppies as
gifts," Marianna Polichroniadou, head of a newly-founded animal rights group
said this week.
"It has to be followed up with actions that safeguard the dog's survival
long-term and this plan doesn't cut it."
Dog lovers say city authorities are also responsible for killing more than
3,000 dogs in the past months, to rid the capital of the animals ahead of next
year's Games.
"Why have all the dogs suddenly disappeared from the city center and why are
they launching this plan now?" Polichroniadou asked.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

I guess you could call this the 15 year plan
for ridding the city of stray dogs. Fifteen years because that is
the average life of a dog. The idea is that if you neuter all the
dogs and then set them free again, they won't be able
to have puppies and in 15 years they should all be gone, provided
no other un-neutered strays join them. The plan that I have heard
is to have all pets implanted with a chip so they can be tracked
if irresponsible owners let them go. When they are picked up both
the pet and the owners will be neutered.

One final note: When I was in Athens
in November of 2003 we went out to dinner in Psiri at a famous taverna
which specializes in paidakia (grilled lambchops). As usual we ordered
too many and after we finished we got a 'doggy bag' to take with
us to give to the street dogs. There is an old woman who wanders
around Psiri with a half dozen dogs. We found her and asked if she
would like the leftovers for her dogs. She looked at the leftovers and
asked if it was OK if she ate them too. Of course we said it was.
I bring this up only to remind people to remember to take pity on
the human strays who may be in need of a helping hand too.

Help
Find Dogopotomus

When the Athens Olympic Committee were
trying to decide upon the mascot for the Athens 2004 Olympics I
suggested one of the street dogs in the Plaka. Dogopotomus
would have been an excellent choice because unlike Fleasvos
and Athena, she was a real live animal and could have become
something of a celebrity, using her fame to publicise the stray
dog problem. Of course my idea was rejected, (if it was even considered)
and now it is too late. But that does not mean it is too late to
adopt Dogopotomus as the 'Official Stray Dog of Athens',
not only for the 2004 Olympic games, but beyond. That is if Dogopotomus
was not one of the unfortunate ones that had been picked up and
'relocated' or poisoned. She is usually hanging out on Adrianou
Street near the intersection of Kydatheneon. If you should spot
her contact
me.

*During the Olympics there were a few stray
dogs lounging around on the streets of the Plaka. Most of them had
been picked up and taken to the kennels outside of town and many
people assumed they would never appear again. But the day after
the closing cermonies, sure enough the dogs began appearing on the
streets, well fed, groomed and looking like they had been on holiday.

This coalition of Greek and Foreign animal
welfare/rights groups was launched in June 2002 with the objective to
lobby the Greek Government, EU politicians and MEP's to solve the problem
of the ever-increasing stray dog and cat population in Greece by:
implementing a nation-wide spay, neuter, release and identification
program; an educational program on responsible pet ownership; enforcing
existing animal protection laws. In December 2002 a New Bill appeared on Greek
TV, introducing high penalties for animal abusers, nation-wide spay/neuter
and release program for the strays, identification and registration for
owned dogs. Though the CIDAG sent proposals
for improvements on the New Bill in January 2003, no progress has been
made and the Bill has not been voted on yet.

Pet
Food Bank in Greece is a non-profit program in Greece dedicated to
assisting animal rescues with pet food and supplies.It is their mission to ensure
that pets are not forgotten during economic hardships. The
immediate vision of Pet Food Bank in Greece is to assist animal rescues with
food, medicines and supplies as well as helping them with adoptions,
sterilisations etc. In these hard economic times, the prices of everyday goods
and services are steadily increasing, making everyday expenses difficult. Pets
have become hidden victims. As many people are being displaced from their homes,
pets are sometimes left behind or placed in shelters, or they are disposed of
along roadsides to fend for themselves. It is our goal to assist during
difficult times to keep animal shelters running. You can e-mail them at info@petfoodbankingreece.org or visit their website at www.petfoodbankingreece.org

The Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF), operating in Greece as Animal Action Greece, strives to improve the welfare of all animals in Greece. Founded in 1959, GAWF works with any animals that need our help. As well as practical and veterinary work, which is often life-saving, we campaign and lobby the Greek Parliament, support smaller animal welfare groups in Greece, run an education programme and offer training in animal care. We believe in working within Greece to find practical and sustainable solutions to animal welfare problems. See our website www.animalactiongreece.gr, email us info@animalactiongreece.gr or call us on Athens +30 2103840010 / London +44 (0)2073578500

Renowned author Willard Manus gives us this grand story of high adventure set on the beautiful Aegean Sea. A Dog Called Lekatells the story of Ben Edgeworth,
an eighteen-year old boy, and his remarkable dog Leka, as they sail among the Greek isles in a catamaran built by Ben himself. The reader will join with the two adventurers as they face unexpected dangers, learning to survive by their wits and skill. Leka came to Ben as a hungry stray, searching the shipyard for scraps of food. He quickly proves himself to be a faithful companion in an extraordinary journey that will stay with the reader long after the
last page is turned. Willard Manus was born and raised in New York City but lived for many years in the Greek islands, mostly in the village of Lindos, on the island of Rhodes. His experiences there were published in a memoir, THIS WAY TO PARADISE--DANCING ON THE TABLES. You can order this book through Greece In Print

Little Noah's Ark

Silke
Wrobel has been working in Chania, Crete for the past 24 years, crusading for the well being of animal life on the
island. She has helped over 10,000 animals and has found families for
thousands of animals all over Europe. Besides cats and dogs, Silke also
rescues wild birds (owls, hawks, sea herons), reptiles (native snakes,
sea turtles, lizards) and rodents (rabbits, hedgehogs. In 2004, Silke
received the medal of honor in Germany for Hellenic-German relations.
She is recognized by PETA and other international animal welfare
organizations.

Silke's battle for animal rights has been an
uphill climb. She has seen extreme suffering and has fought natives and
governments for change. Silke's Little Noah's Ark is the leading
animal welfare organization on the island receiving requests for help
from the police, fire brigade and coast guard. With zero support from
the municipality Silke has invested her own capital along with the help
of a supporting German association, Tierfreunde Kreta, e.V., to do what
she can to help animals in Crete. With the economic crisis upon
Greece, the situation has worsened dramatically, stray populations have
boomed (animals are the first to be abandoned when times are hard) and her resources are far too little
to keep up with the current situation. "No one has done more, has
sacrificed more, will do as Silke has done", is what is commonly heard
amongst those who know her.

In the past couple of years she has
been deemed by reputable Cretans as cultural gem and a gift to the
environment working selflessly for the greater good of the area.
Currently, due to her excellent reputation, for the first time in the
history of Crete there are talks of a cooperation between the local
government and Silke to form the first animal shelter (Eco-friendly
animal park) run by an animal welfare association.